Market and Exchange

The European Central Bank, in a surprise move Thursday, cut its main interest rate to rock bottom and said it would buy certain securities and bonds in a bid to stimulate growth and combat increasing risks of deflation. In addition to lowering its key bank-lending rate to a fresh low of 0.05%, from 0.15%, the ECB pushed the bank-deposit rate further into negative territory, making it more expensive for lenders to park cash at the central bank. The actions announced in Frankfurt, Germany, boosted stock prices and sent the euro down to below $1.30, the lowest in more than a year. The euro has fallen about 3% against the dollar in the last month alone, and analysts expect a further...

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U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, R-Orlando, is leading the charge against President Barack Obama's budget proposal that would change the way government figures the (usually) annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security payments. In the budget released today, Ob

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The Social Security Trustees confirmed on Friday that there will be no cost-of-living adjustment in benefits next year for the second year in a row. Politicians — especially vulnerable incumbent DemocratsÂ like freshman Rep. Suzanne Kosmas of New Sm

Â Â Â Â The short answer is no. We can't afford it.Â Â Â Â Giving seniors raises while workers face wages that either are declining or stagnant is not fair. Seniors actually are the demographic that is holding up best

The European Central Bank, in a surprise move Thursday, cut its main interest rate to rock bottom and said it would buy certain securities and bonds in a bid to stimulate growth and combat increasing risks of deflation.
In addition to lowering its key...

European Union officials will draw up proposals for new sanctions on Russia over its action in Ukraine within a week, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on Sunday.EU leaders decided at a Brussels summit to ask the EU's executive...

Wholesale gasoline prices surged in Chicago on Thursday after a fire hit a piece of equipment used to produce gasoline at BP Plc's refinery in nearby Whiting, Indiana, trade and industry sources said.BP said the fire was extinguished at its biggest U.S....

— Well, at least we're starting to get the procedure right. Washington has rediscovered the beauty of the boring. It's called "regular order," using the normal, routine, constitutional process to arrive at, for example, a budget.
Normal had...

Portrait studios at Sears and some Wal-Mart stores — the scenes of innumerable family photos — have unexpectedly closed as their operator, CPI Corp., goes out of business.
The portrait provider said in a statement on its website that all of its U.S....

Greek officials were busy today cobbling together an emergency plan after talks to form a coalition government disintegrated Tuesday. In the meantime, Greeks have withdrawn $900 million from local banks.So said President Karolos Papoulias, according to...

"Gas prices are outrageous."
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It's tempting to read a silver lining into the otherwise dreary news that food prices are skyrocketing and appear on pace to post their largest annual increase since 1980.
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